We just got home after having driven through the aftermath of Snowmaggedon. Um... I am from Colorado and have lived in Connecticut for nearly 10 years and I have NEVER seen roads like that in my life. I am not kidding when I tell you that there was a 3" layer of ice on the highway!!! And when it had melted with a small hole in the ice, it felt like you were driving over a major pot hole! Those of you that live there.... yowza!!!! No fun for you guys, at all.

So, we literally just walked in the door, and I just wanted to say thank you so much for all the cheering and support! We felt it down there, and most importantly, I KNOW KATO DID!!! I think he let Colby borrow his wings to fly this weekend.

I will get some pictures up in the next few days, as well as try and capture the sound on the video. They only mentioned his name a few times, but they always told his story. I will have to see what we got for sound. Should I post them here, in the photo gallery, or sports section?

I will also tally up the total amount of we are donating in Kato's name. I am going to guess it is over $100.

Thaks again, everyone. And Dee, we are keeping you close to our hearts, just as we always will with Kato.

This is a press release that the organization put out for the event...

Written by DockDogs Admin Feb 09, 2010 at 12:00 AM

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Medina, OH - February 9, 2010 - Dockdoggers were definitely living the "wild life" at the East Carolina Wildlife & Arts Festival in Washington, North Carolina as they braved the chilly and below zero temperatures this weekend for our first National outdoor event on the East Coast this season. The three day event brought out a number of new teams and created home town heroes out of many of the first-timers. As we began on Friday with our first Speed Retrieve competition, Dan Stalling & Alvin set their best time of the weekend, also securing themselves a spot in the Finals on Sunday. This duo wasn't satisfied with just a Speed Retrieve win; they followed it up with a win in our first Big Air wave of the weekend! Despite the rain that continued through the day, we saw many great jumps. One of these jumps came from the team of Julie Bear & Rocket who made it all the way out to 22'6" for the longest jump of the weekend! Alisa Wayland & Colby stretched out to 21' in wave # 3 for the win. Alisa also generously agreed to donated 10 cents to the Chase Away Canine Cancer Foundation for every foot that each of her dogs jumped the entire weekend!

We saw many fans in awe to think that they could bring their dog out and end up being part of the DockDogs® Big Air competition. Over the weekend there were almost too many stories to tell of local dog lovers who brought their four legged friends to learn the sport. One of the favorite stories of the weekend was Kent Vaughn and his yellow lab Tide; who leaped their way into our Amateur Finals! Another competitor new to DockDogs® was a Youth Handler, Hunter Graves & his dog Honey Bunn, who made awesome improvements taking his dog from a 9'11" jump to soaring him all the way out to 13'9" by the end of the weekend.

It was like a Friday night football game while the lights of Kugler Field shined down on the dock and pool during Extreme Vertical (EV) as we jumped into the night. There were a lot of big jumping dogs in EV but old man winter put a toll on many and in the end it was James Tolson and Coda outlasting everyone else for the win in Cadet with a grab at 5'10". You could see the excitement on Jim Pierce's face as his dog Jake jumped all the way up to 6'2" for their first EVER win in the Top Gun division!!!

When it came down to Finals on Sunday you could see the icicles hanging from the dock. But our teams weren't discouraged by a lil snow, with game faces on; the dogs were ready to jump it off with the best of the weekend into a cozy 38 degree pool.

It kicked off with Speed Retrieve and to prove that it was no fluke that they had the fastest time all weekend, Dan Stalling's dog Alvin, after landing near the 20' mark took a few strides to grab the DockDogs® Flappy in 7.106 seconds putting them in 1st place. The super duo of Dan and Alvin also took first place in our DockDogs® Iron Dog division.

Moving onto Big Air Finals we saw some close jumps. After being the last of 8 to qualify for Amateur Finals Matthew Waters & his dog Sadie managed to get their best jump yet of 17'4" and make it onto the podium in 3rd place; at their first DockDogs® event ever! Jay Harris & Mister Bentley took the win in this division with a jump of 18'5".

The outcome of the Big Air Semi-Pro Finals was just inches between the top three spots but in the end it was Alisa Wayland and Colby taking home the win with a 21' jump. In a quote of joy, Alisa noted that "Making it to the finals actually cost me an extra $50.00!". She was generous enough to promise to donate an extra $50.00 towards a cure if she made it into any of the Finals after a close friend recently lost her dog to canine cancer.

This event may have been a chilly kick off of our East Coast DockDogs® tour, but it definitely didn't lack entertainment. DockDogs® would like to thank everyone who braved the cold temperatures and snow watches to attend. We look forward to seeing everyone this weekend at the event in South Carolina. Hopefully you can leave your parkas at home and bring the shorts instead!

I've been worried because I haven't cried much since Kato died and that's not like me. I don't have to worry any more as I sobbed from the first pic to the last. Thank you, Dr. Blabs & Team Blabador for honoring my sweet Kato this way! It means the world to me and it's something I'll always remember.